Singkawang Police Reveals 2 TIP Cases, 9 Victims Including Children Offered To Work At Cafe Turns Out To Be Prostitutes

Three TIP perpetrators in the midfielder went to the detention room at the Singkawang Police, West Kalimantan. (ANTARA/Rudi)

The Singkawang Police are handling two cases of Trafficking in Persons (TPPO) that lure their victims to become cafe or restaurant employees but instead trade as commercial sex workers or prostitutes.

"In 2023, we have handled two trafficking cases (TPPO), of which the TIP case includes one LP (police report) in January and one LP in June 2023," said Singkawang Police Chief, AKBP Arwin Amrih Wientama in Singkawang, West Kalimantan (West Kalimantan), Friday 16 June.

He said that from the handling of the two cases, his party had named five suspects.

The victims were 9 people, including 3 underage women who were offered to mashers through the MiChat application.

AKBP Arwin detailed that the first TIP case that was revealed by his party in 2023 occurred in January, 2 suspects had been named.

The victims were 7 people, with details of 4 women, 2 men, and 1 female minor.

From the next case revealed in June 2023, the Singkawang Police named 3 suspects, namely 2 women and 1 man. While the victim was 2 underage.

AKBP Arwin said that two TIP cases were handled by the Singkawang Police, all of the victims were lured to work in Malaysia.

The victims were first accommodated in a house which would then be picked up by a car to go to their destination.

Furthermore, AKBP Arwin said that in preventing and handling the TIP case in Singkawang, its members had coordinated with other agencies, such as the Investment Office and Manpower, Immigration Office, Social Service and Correctional Center.

"The technical work is that the Singkawang Police will write to the relevant agencies and then coordinate both information and supporting data in handling the TIP case," he said.